of springville



Sept. 30, 1924. "1,9,916

R. B. WAITE METHOD OF- PRESERVING CONTENTS OF CONTAINERS Filed Oct. 5, 1922 2 JEL UG 717 07 f/ Horn g/S Patented Sept. 30, 19.24. i I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RALPH IB- WAITE, F SPRINGVILLE, NEW-YORK, ASSIGNOR'TO THE ANTIDOLOR MFG. ($0., OF SPRINGVILLE, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

i METHOD OF PRESERVING CONTENTS OF CONTAINERS.

Application filed October 5, 1922. Serial No. 592,646.

To all whom it may concern: on line 3-3, Fig. 1; Figure a is a lon i- Be it known that I, RALPH B. WAITE, a tudinal section of a container showing t e citizen of the United States, residin in completion of my method of preserving the Springville, in the county of Erie and tate contents of the same. Figure is a longis of New York, have invented new and usetudinal section of a modified form of the 60 111 Improvements in Methods of Preserving body or bottle of the container.

Contents of Containers, of which the fol- Similiar characters of reference refer to lowing is a specification. like parts throughout the several views.

This invention relates to a method of pro- Although my invention may be employed to serving the contents of containers having with containers of various forms, that, for 65 a bottle shaped body of rigid material and example, shown inithe drawings comprises a closure of elastic material extending across a bottle shaped body and a closure for the the inlet of the body. same. The body has a cylindrical wall 10,

Heretofore materials which would dea closed bottom 11, an open top forming an teriorate when exposed constantly to the atinlet or mouth through which the contents '10 mosphere, for instance, medical tablets, were 12 of the container are introduced into the packed in containers which were hermetlsame and removed therefrom. The contents cally sealed after being filled With the mamay consist of any suitable material which terial to be packed, but this has been fo n is to be preserved, such for instance, as mediao unsatisfactory, because the presence of a cal tablets which deteriorate rapidly and 7 considerable amount of air in the container lose their strength and efficiency when exafter the same was sealed would still operposed to any considerable amount of oxyate destructively 011 the material and d6 gen as found in the ordinary atmosphere, teriorate the same to such an extent that the A u d th t ior of th o tl t d f same in time would either be wholly worththe body the same may either be straight as 80 less or at least very greatly weakened 01' r shown at 130 in Fig. 5, or the same may be duced 'in strength and thus impair the efprovided with a projection, rim or bead 13, ficiency of the same, this being partlcularly {rs-shown i Fig 1, 2 d 4, id bod botobjectionable in the case of tablets for tom and head being preferably. form d in to medicinal use. tegrally of glass or other suitable rigid ma- 85 In the case of tablets employed for proterial.

ducing anaesthesia injections preparatory Th closure comprises an upper or outer to doing dental and surgical work, It has head 14, extending over the outlet of the been found that tablets originally white soon body, a, lu r cork 15 arranged centrally become yellow due to deC0mPOSit 0I 0f h on the inner side of said head and adapted to ingredients therein. under ordinary atmosto fit tightly into the neck, mouth or outlet pheric conditions which sap the strength of of the body, and an annular flange 16 prothe tablets, thus impairing the efliciency of j ti in rdly or downwardly from the the injection, if not rendering the same marginal part of the head and adapted to wholly worthless. surround the bead of the body and the adon It is the Object of this iIIVGIl i D to pr jacent part of the cylindrical wall thereof. vide a method for preserving the con n This closure is constructed of soft rubber or of such containers and insure full strength other elastic material which can be stretched of the same when required for use which not or sprung sufficiently to permit of applyonly is very eifectivein' protecting'the coning the closure to the body so that the plug 100 tents but is also very simple and capable of fits the mouth of the bottle and its flange embeing practiced without appreciably adding braces the head and wall of the ame and to the cost of packing the materials. also enables these parts to be readily sepa- In the accompanying-drawin s: rated in order ,to afford access to the lnterior Figure 1 isa l ngit dinal e wn f a 011- of the container for filling the same with the let tainer showing the beginning of my method material to be packed or emptying the same for preserving the contents of the same. of its contents.

Figure 2 is a similar view showing the After the material to be preserved or profinal part of the method for practicing my tected has been placed in the receptacle of invention. Figure 3 is a cross section taken th conta er and the closurehas been apno plied thereto as above described, the air is withdrawn from the interior of the container whereby the oxygen present in the sameis reduced to a minimum and the contents of the container are protected against unduly rapid oxidation which otherwise oc ours and impairs the usefulness of the same to a marked degree, particularly in the case of tablets which are used for-medicine.

Withdrawal ofthe air for this purpose is effected by pushing a hollow needle 17 inwardly through the head and plug of the closure so that the inner open end of the same communicates with the storage space within the container, as shown in Fig. 1, and

connecting the-outer end of this needle with a suitable suction device whereby the air is drawn outwardly from the container through said needle and a vacuum or rarification of air in the container is produced, thereby eliminating a large percentage of oxy en which would attack the medical tablets in the container and produce an undesirable reaction thereon. In practice it has been found satisfactory to use a hypodermic needle and a vacuum pum attached to the rear end of the same, as t e means for extracting the air from the vial or container.

Upon withdrawing the needle from the closure, the parts of the latter immediately around the puncture 18 formed by the needle will come tightly together automatically and seal the puncture so as to prevent the entrance of air therethrough into the container. This automatic sealing of this puncture progresses in the same measure as the needle is withdrawn, this being illustrated in Fig. 2 in which the needle has been withdrawn so that its point is only located in the outer part of the puncture while the inner partof the closure has already contracted and sealed the respective part of the puncture within the same.

When the needle has been wholly withdrawn from the closure the puncture therein is'closed throughout its entire length, as shown in Fig. 4, thereby effectively sealing the closure and preventing the entrance of air into the'container so that the contents of the same are maintained in vacuo.

Upon withdrawing the air from the container by means of the needle, the inward pressure of the atmosphere against the elastic closure is increased so that the closure is pressed more tightly around the needle and guards more effectively against the entrance of air, and when the needle has been withdrawn from the closure this increased externalpressure against the closure causes the parts of the latter around its puncture to be pressed together with increased pressure proportionate to the vacuum produced in the container and the cork or plug of the closure to be sucked into the bottle with increased pressure, so that if there is the least leakage as the rubber stopper resumes its normal position the tendency to close the leak opening is all the stronger, and seals the container so much ti hter, thereby effectively preventing brea ring of the vacuum in the container and ensurin its contents against deleterious action 0 the atmosphere.

It is therefore possible by the use of my invention to pack medical tablets or other materials liable to unfavorable influences in the presence of air to be effectively protected or preserved against contamination, weakening or deterioration, so that when the are to be used, they will be fresh and m full strength and operate most efiiciently for the purposes for which they were intended.

I claim as my invention:

The hereindescribed method of preserving articles susceptible of deterioration when exposed to air which consists in placing such articles in a receptacle having a rigid wall and an inlet, then mounting a closure of elastic material on said receptacle so that the same extends across and closes the inlet thereof, then passing a hollow needle inwardly through said closure so that the needle communicates with the interior of said receptacle, then applying an exhausting effeet on the outer end of the needle so as to withdraw the air from said needle through said needle, and then withdrawing the needle from said closure and permitting those parts of the closure which have been separated by the needle during the perfecting operation to again come together due to the resilience of the closure and operate to seal the puncture.

RALPH B, WAITE. 

